Douglas Corleone is a former New
York City criminal defense attorney. He now resides on the Hawaiian Island of
Oahu. Doug is the author of the Kevin Corvelli crime novels set in
Honolulu. His debut novel ONE
MAN’S PARADISE was a finalist for the 2010 Shamus Award for Best First
Novel and won the 2009 Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime
Novel Award. Douglas’ third novel LAST LAWYER STANDING will be released tomorrow.
Some of you
may remember that in late July, I went on vacation to Hawaii. During the leg of
the trip where we went to Honolulu, I stalked Douglas. Mercilessly. He changed
his phone numbers. I hacked them. He issued a Cease and Desist order. Like that
would ever work! He tried wearing disguises. Seriously, Doug? A blond dreads
wig? Eventually, he gave up and agreed to include Straight From Hel on his
final day of touring before the debut of Last
Lawyer Standing.
Please welcome Douglas Corleone.
Title
Fight
All right,
so it’s not really a fight. Not even an
argument. More like a team sport in
which there’s no other team. We’re all
on the same side. We all want to put out
the best book possible, and we all want a title that will hook readers, that
will get them to pick up the book and read the gripping dust jacket copy and
ultimately make the purchase. We all
want readers – authors and publishers alike.
What many
readers and aspiring writers don’t know is that the title the author places on
his final manuscript isn’t always the title you ultimately see on store
shelves. In fact, in my experience it’s
pretty rare. For me, putting together 80,000
words of compelling prose is easier than thinking up one to three words that
will make book browsers go, Mmmm.
Don’t get me
wrong – so far, all three books I have had published bear titles that I’ve
thought up. But two of the three are
titles that were thought up well after I’d written The End. And the other was a title that had
essentially been pre-approved by my editor.
Well after
John Grisham was a bestseller, his publisher rereleased his debut novel A TIME TO KILL with a forward from the
author that revealed two interesting things – one, that Grisham had to sell
copies of his first book out of the trunk of his car, and two, that A TIME TO KILL was originally titled DEATHKNELL.
Why? Because John’s publisher didn’t think DEATHKNELL was a very compelling title
for a legal thriller. I think they were
probably right.
There’s no question that my publisher was right about my first novel. ONE
MAN’S PARADISE was originally titled HULA
ME ONCE. While writing the book, I
was aiming for something fresh and funny, a story that would ultimately wear a
colorful dust jacket and bear a clever title.
I was shooting for something along the lines of Bob Morris’s second
mystery, JAMAICA ME DEAD. But, at least with respect to the title, I
missed.
I know some
authors who will put up a fight for a title they love. For now at least, given the fact that my
books consistently wind up with better titles after several brainstorming sessions
with my agent and editor, I’m of the thinking that Publisher Knows Best. That’s why a manuscript that was submitted
with the generic title CHOICE OF EVILS is
being released as LAST LAWYER STANDING this
month. And why I’m not entirely sure of
what the title of next year’s international thriller will be.
I am,
however, sure of a few titles that you won’t
be seeing next to my name in 2013.
Thank you, Doug.
Tomorrow,
you'll be able to find Douglas' latest book, Last Lawyer Standing, everywhere: Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
Books-A-Million, the iBookstore, IndieBound, and other places.
Okay, I was
kidding about the Cease and Desist order. But…how do you like the picture I got
of him? See that beach in the background? Look close. You'll see me. But I
won't tell you where he lives. I'm sworn to secrecy. No, really, the judge made
me swear.
Disclaimer:
I'm kidding!
Leave a comment
for Douglas. Give him a shout-out. Buy his books. Or just tell him to drop the
restraining order against me.
I'm going to check out Doug's books. Interesting story about John Grisham.
ReplyDeleteHey - if you have to stalk someone, best do it in Hawaii. Titles do catch the eye. Hula Me Once is kinda funny. Oh well. His books sound good.
ReplyDeleteHey, Douglas! I was fortunate my publisher kept the original title for my first book, but I couldn't even think of a title for the second. My publisher came up with that one.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few books where I didn't come up with the title until after I finished the book. My one publisher changed one of my titles because they had another book with a similar title.
ReplyDeleteOne Man's Paradise and Last Lawyer Standing are both great titles, Doug.
ReplyDeleteAs I write, I often change the title. Even after it's finished, I change the title.
Selecting the right title is important.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone for joining in the conversation. I'm someone who's turned on and off by titles, so I drive myself crazy when a manuscript of mine says UNTITLED on the cover. I like specific more than generic titles, though sometimes one word just sums a book up perfectly, like Jeff Abbott's Adrenaline.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Douglas. Adrenaline fit the book and just the title made you pick it up. I saw Jeff speak not too long ago. He's also a great speaker.
DeleteNow, who would want a mermaid to stop stalking them? That's how I KNOW your a fictioneer, Helen. ;)
ReplyDeleteDouglas, thanks for the behind-the-scenes look at your title bouts. I got used to my first edit in any accepted story being, "We need to change the title." When editors stopped wanting to change the titles, I felt kinda sad. NOT.
Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes
A fictioneer, huh? I like that label.
DeleteEverything I write ends up with multiple titles before I finally decide on the "one".
Thanks for posting this. Having worked for lawyers for years I like the idea of Last Lawyer Standing! I'm glad he realized that you never give up and it was best to surrender.
ReplyDeleteAnn
I'm so glad Last Lawyer Standing won out at the title for this latest book. It is so much better than Choice of Evils for this story.
ReplyDeleteI don't have trouble coming up with titles, and have so far not had a publisher change one. In a creative writing class I took some years ago, an instructor talked about how important it is for the title to speak to the main element of the story. So once I have a theme - one woman's courage for One Small Victory - I can come up with a title.
If I don't have a title, it drives me nuts. I can hardly write. I don't think I could ever write a story that starts with Untitled. I tried that with a short story not too long ago, and I couldn't focus on the story.